29

Dec

Government of India has appreciated the model IT application developed by Odisha for tracking of mineral production, dispatch and value accrued on real time basis through its i3MS website.

Official sources here said the central government had also recommended the model to be followed by other states.

Secretary steel & mines Raj Kumar Sharma told a meeting chaired by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here today that a 24 x7 online system called Integrated Mines & Mineral Management System (i3MS) software developed and implemented in Odisha has proved very useful in monitoring of production, dispatch and transportation of minerals in the state on real time basis.

Odisha is the first State to have such a consolidated and robust IT application in mineral management. This was highly appreciated in the central coordination and empowered committee meeting held at Delhi.

The Union government has advised other states to follow this model. The Indian bureau of mines is likely to adopt it under Mineral Conservation and Development Rules of 1988.

Mr Padhi directed the department to scale up mineral production in coming months through close monitoring and appropriate action plan.

Replying to a media query after the meeting, director, mines Deepak Mohanty said all relevant central and state mining rules have been customised in to this software.

The software tracks end to end mineral transaction i.e. quantum of minerals produced, transported and received by the industries. All the stakeholders like lessees, dealers and government departments have been brought on this portal. It has also been integrated with RTO, Indian railways, commercial tax, ports and treasury.

The daily production and dispatch is recorded on real time basis through this web based software. All the mineral transporting trucks have been put under GPS surveillance and the roads as well as mines have been geo-referenced.

Mr Mohanty said the system has checked illegal mining in the state. Till now, 392 electronic weigh bridges in 136 mines and 699 weigh bridges in 325 industries have been approved on line through this portal.

Similarly, 2,71,347 e-permits and 6312 dealer licences have been also granted through it. Around 2.4 crore trip sheets (transit pass for trucks) have been generated online through this system.

The website has now been customised for a mobile application providing the facility for tracking of minerals through mobile app.